This paper analyzes optimal procurement mechanisms in a setting where the procurement agency has incomplete information concerning the firms' cost functions and cares about quality as well as price. Low type firms are cheaper than high type firms in providing low quality but more expensive when...

Theoretical IO models of horizontal mergers and acquisitions make the critical assumption of efficiency gains. Without efficiency gains, these models predict either that mergers are not profitable or that mergers are welfare reducing. A problem here is the empirical observation that on average...

Competition has been modelled in economic literature in a number of ways. What do these different parameterizations of competition have in common? For instance, it turns out that it is not always the case that a rise in competition reduces price cost margins, industry wide profits or...